In 2019 Newcastle council declared a state of climate emergency. To begin tackling the crisis the Net Zero action plan was developed, setting out how the city aims to achieve net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2030. But how does the city aim to achieve this necessary and pressing goal?
Much of Newcastle’s emissions are from the energy used in domestic and non-domestic properties. Energy emissions will be tackled by:
- Increasing the energy efficiency of homes and other buildings, including improving insulation in existing homes and ensuring new homes are built to higher energy efficiency standard.
- Increase the amount of self-consumption (where passive energy consumers become active producers and consumers of renewable energy) through installing renewable energy sources in homes and non-domestic buildings.
- Install heating pumps (that extract heat from the water, air and ground and run on mostly renewable sources) into homes.
- Introduce the use of hydrogen blended gas, biogas and renewable biofuels as energy sources in homes.
Transport is also responsible for a large proportion of the emissions produced. The action plan aims to tackle transport related emissions by:
- Increasing the number of electric, hydrogen and biofuel vehicles in Newcastle.
- Enhancing public transport provisions, such as electric and low emission buses and retrofitted vehicles (existing vehicles that can be fitted with pollution-reducing technology).
- Implementing traffic free and clean air zones.
- Improving walking and cycling infrastructure, and trialling e-scooters.
- Encouraging usage of the metro by giving it a facelift with a fleet of new and modernized trains.
Finally the action plan sets out steps to improve sustainability in Newcastle and to adapt to climate change by:
- Improving plans for responding to extreme weather events.
- Creating and enhancing green infrastructure (green spaces that are multi-functional and the links between these areas) such as parks, woodland, street trees, allotments, outdoor sports areas, footpaths, cycle paths, and waterways.
- Creating opportunities for nature based carbon sequestration solutions.
- Making waste management more efficient.
The funding required for the Net Zero action plan comes from grant sources that have either already been obtained, have already been applied for or will be applied for in the future.
To read the Net Zero action plan yourself go to: https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Climate%20Change/Net%20Zero/Net%20Zero%20Newcastle%20-%202030%20Action%20Plan_0.pdf
